Patrick O’Flynn

Patrick O’Flynn

Patrick O’Flynn is a former MEP and political editor of the Daily Express

The Tory heirs to Blair are no more

So the Conservative party is not going to try to become ‘more normal’ in the eyes of establishment centrists after all, but will instead chart a course towards becoming more conservative. After the astonishing elimination of James Cleverly from the Tory leadership contest this afternoon, Tory grassroots members are to be presented with a right-of-centre

The case for – and against – James Cleverly

When is the best time to hit the front of a Tory leadership contest? In the final chain of the final furlong after coming up unseen on the rails, obviously. As charismatic front-runners from Michael Heseltine to Michael Portillo have found out, Conservative leadership battles are brutal for the established heir apparent. There is something about

The demise of the Tory party has been greatly exaggerated

Something happened at the Conservative party conference today which suggested it is too soon to write off the democratic world’s most successful party: there were three brilliant speeches in a row. Given that this political era is not known for its great orators, this was a most unusual and very welcome occurrence. It is too soon

Could Badenoch blow it?

Fans of Frank Sinatra used to have a favourite saying when their hero was in his pomp: ‘It’s Frank’s world. We just live in it.’ After a day and a half of the Tory conference in Birmingham, there is a temptation to refashion the observation around Kemi Badenoch, so completely has she dominated proceedings. And

How the Tories can bounce back

What will be Rishi Sunak’s political legacy, other than the terribly embarrassing thing that happened on July 4? Not free speech on campus: Sunak never got round to putting that law onto the statute book before the general election. Not the absurd age-related rolling smoking ban: ditto. Nor A-level reform. Nor the new law that was

Keir Starmer’s problems are of his own making

That nobody in Keir Starmer’s inner circle worked out that trashing his personal reputation for a hundred grand’s worth of free stuff was a bad deal tells us a lot. Worse still, nobody seems even to have clocked that accepting so many freebies, especially from the ambitious Labour peer Lord Alli, could prove politically toxic

How Robert Jenrick stole Kemi Badenoch’s thunder

Robert Jenrick appears on course to become leader of the Conservative party within a year of resigning from ministerial office in Rishi Sunak’s administration. That is a telling indicator of how far the Conservative regimes of the last parliament had strayed from the gut instincts of the Tory tribe. Jenrick has been focused on victory

Keir Starmer’s popularity delusion

All year Keir Starmer has been using a reassuring phrase about his inevitable Downing Street tenure in a bid to calm the nerves of those not certain they were keen on it. He debuted it in January, when the Labour leader promised to bring forth ‘a politics that treads more lightly on all our lives’. Starmer

Keir Starmer can’t blame the Tories forever

Keir Starmer’s rose garden speech today should be seen as a companion piece to last month’s melodramatic Commons statement by Rachel Reeves on the condition of the public finances.  In each case the purpose was clear – to lower expectations and buy the government more time by heaping extra blame on the last Conservative administration

Things can only get worse for Keir Starmer

When Rishi Sunak announced a July election during a torrential downpour, one leftist wag played ‘Things Can Only Get Better’ at high volume in adjacent Whitehall. The audible strains of the D-Ream hit – which served as Tony Blair’s election anthem – added to the impression of a drowning PM and conveyed the notion that

Keir Starmer is caving on immigration already

It should come as no surprise that Keir Starmer has already contracted a severe dose of Boris Johnson disease when it comes to immigration policy. This occurs when a prime minister has a general commitment to bring down the overall volume of inward migration and yet makes so many specific exceptions that such an outcome

Starmer’s plan to ‘smash the gangs’ won’t work

We are approaching the fifth anniversary of British prime ministers promising to stem the tide of illegal migration across the English Channel. It was in late August 2019 that Boris Johnson did a piece to camera in which he warned potential new waves of illegal immigrants: ‘We will send you back.’ In the event, hardly

Keir Starmer’s riot crisis

Just a month into the Labour ascendancy and its first major political crisis has already taken shape. It is not the looming tax-raising Budget Rachel Reeves is preparing in contravention of assurances made during the election campaign about her party’s plans being fully funded. It is instead something much more visceral and basic: a breakdown

Does it matter if Kemi Badenoch was mean to civil servants?

Kemi Badenoch has been accused of being an unpleasant bully who targeted civil servants for unconscionable treatment. The allegations – which Badenoch has strongly denied – centre around her time at the Department for Business and Trade and emerged in the Guardian. Pippa Crerar, who is exceptionally good at her job and is arguably now

Why Kemi Badenoch’s leadership pitch sets her apart

The Conservative party is preparing the ground for its sixth leader since the Brexit referendum eight years ago. Were one of those actuaries who help insurers assess probabilities let loose on the Tory leadership race, it is hard to envisage any of the six candidates being rated as a likely future prime minister. Even removing